The first of 17 public schools closed on Friday due to fears of asbestos exposure has reopened, as an epidemiologist says parents should not be concerned. Florey Primary School in Canberra's north west was fast-tracked to reopen to accommodate the school's fair today.
Sixteen schools in the ACT and one in Brisbane were shut down on Friday after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission issued a national recall notice for coloured sand products when testing detected traces of asbestos. Professor Martyn Kirk from the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at the Australian National University said the risk to health was extremely low.
“It's two things: it's probably unlikely to become airborne, and the second is it's really a very short-term exposure,” he said. “What we are worried about is when they breathe it in, not if they consume it.”
So far, air testing at eight of the ACT schools involved in the scare has returned negative results for traces of asbestos. Professor Kirk said he did not expect any of the air testing at any of the schools to detect asbestos. “It's not even something worth worrying about into the future,” he said.
Parent and fair organiser Latoya Marks supported the decision to close the school. “They made the decision they had to make, for the safety and well-being of all of our students and families and, of course, staff,” she said. She received an email late on Friday afternoon confirming the school had permission to reopen today in time to hold the fundraising event.
